Had enough of those YouTube videos that sucker you in with how easy it is to get the silk off your corn but then bait and switch and require you to cook it first? Well, you've come to the right place. Just click and enjoy!

A little mustard in the vineyards of beuoootiful Napa Valley!

Hearing that word today motivated me to post. Fair. Here, in the world according to Crowden, are the ONLY two definitions of fair:

1: Used an an adjective, as in "she has fair skin". Opposite of dark complexion.

2: A place you go to in order to get sick on cotton candy and vomit-inducing roller coaster rides.

And ... that's it. There is absolutely, positively, no other definition of the word that makes any sense in the world as it is. So if you catch someone using the word inappropriately, perhaps saying "That's just not fair." inform them that that's simply not a word, pure and simply. Not a word and not a concept.

It all depends on one's point of view, doesn't it ...?

Robin Williams dead. So very sad. Dead by suicide? That's a whole new level of unfortunate.

I think the problem most people have understanding depression is that they have a view of "self" as an independent entity and "brain dysfunction" as an external agent. But once you've got brain dysfunction for whatever reason, it BECOMES part of self. You can't stand outside it and try to reason your way out of it because it literally IS part of you. There's no distinct depression-free "you" anymore that one can address.

What's an analogy? How about this? People like to view depression as if it's frosting on a cupcake. You can remove the frosting and not affect the cupcake. The cupcake is always itself, simply adorned or unadorned.

But depression is more like paint. You have your normal cheerful yellow self and some blue depression is added. You're no longer yellow. You're green. And you're not going to be able to find your old yellow self anymore; it simply isn't there. Removing the blue isn't in any way easily done and may be impossible to do. All one can try to do is learn to live with green and see the positive in a world in which green is your new color. 

Or so it seems to me. Happily, although I have my cyclical ups and downs, they are nothing anywhere near as extreme as it seems Mr. Williams was dealing with. His family has my sincere sympathy.

And I DO mean good Monday to one and all! Woke up at 3:30. Said, nah, and dropped back. Woke up for realzies at 5:30. Yay! That's pretty late for me. Sleeping in! Made the long trek to work (about 20 steps from the bedroom to the computer). Cleared emails from phone. And then set about reading the latest from Girl Genius. But wait, what light from yonder computer screen breaks? It is a message from gmail. Thought I'd already cleared them all via the iPhone. Eh, ignore for now, gotta see what Gil is up to.

Aaaand, now that all the rest is done, lets check it out. What? A message from that most excellent Prospect magazine, that beacon of United Kingdom publishing? For me? Whatever for, I wonder?

And the answer is ... they'd like to purchase one of my business Crowtoons for the upcoming issue! 

There are those who say Mondays are bad but as far as I'm concerned, when Mondays bring news like this, they're A-OK with me!